


First Match

by GenericUsername01



Series: Chess Games [1]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Chess, Gen, One-sided spirk, Pining Kirk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 13:56:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13976553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GenericUsername01/pseuds/GenericUsername01
Summary: Kirk and Spock play their first ever match of chess.





	First Match

“Hey Spock,” Kirk called after shift, desperate to not let the man leave on such icy terms. Again. He had thought things between them would warm up a little as they settled into their mission, but so far, he’d had no such luck. Spock still nitpicked and criticized his every single command decision, and it was downright infuriating, but damn if Jim was going to give up on that legendary friendship that Old Spock had told him about.  
  
Spock turned to him, and Jim suddenly realized he had no plan here. He just didn’t want the Vulcan to leave. Thinking fast, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Do you play chess?”  
  
He seemed—genuinely—interested, and Jim took that as a good sign. “Affirmative, Captain.”  
  
“Great! You up for a game?”  
  
“…Affirmative.”  
  
He grinned slyly. “My quarters or yours?”  
  
“The atmospheric controls within my quarters are set to what closely resembles the Vulcan homeworld. I believe you will be more comfortable within your own.”  
  
Jim’s smile dropped. “Yeah, but you won’t be. I didn’t even think of the atmospheric controls. Come on, let’s play in your quarters.”  
  
“Captain, I assure you I will be fine in your own.”  
  
“You have to spend all day in human-set conditions, Spock, I’m not gonna make you spend your down time like that too. Come on. I insist.”  
  
“Very well.”  
  
They walked side by side to Spock’s quarters and he inputted his code to get the door to unlock. Kirk suppressed the urge to hum nervously. He didn’t know why he was nervous. He had no reason to be. But for some reason he had never been this invested in making sure someone became his friend before. He wanted that all-defining relationship that the original Kirk and Spock had had. T’hy’la.  
  
And maybe they wouldn’t completely fit all three definitions—especially since Spock was with Uhura and that never happened in the prime universe—but from what Selek had shown him, even just one, even just being friends, not even close enough to call each other brothers, that… that could be enough. It would have to be.  
  
Kirk wouldn’t settle for _nothing_. He didn’t believe in no-win scenarios. He and Spock were going to mean something to each other in more than just the superficial capacity of captain and commander, god damn it.  
  
They entered the room and Spock took out an old-style two dimensional board and the pieces to go with it.  
  
“You play 2D?” Jim asked, surprised.  
  
Spock nodded. “I learned how to play on a two-dimensional board.”  
  
“Really? Who taught you?”  
  
“My mother.”  
  
Foot in mouth. Shit. Two seconds in, they haven’t even got the board set up, and he’s brought up the dead mother. Shit shit shit. “I—God, Spock, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—“  
  
“It is no matter. I find that it is one of my fonder memories of her. Reliving it is not a source of pain.”  
  
“…Oh.”  
  
They set up the board, Jim taking white and Spock taking black by unspoken agreement. Jim nudged a pawn forward, and Spock mirrored the move.  
  
Two moves later, Jim had captured his knight. He frowned suspiciously.  
  
They played quietly for a few more minutes, but it wasn’t a tense silence, merely contemplative.  
  
Jim captured Spock’s bishop and that was one more piece than Spock had captured of his and it was also the final straw. Kirk wasn’t stupid. Spock was deliberately keeping them just a hair shy of perfectly matched.  
  
“Spock, you can stop. If you aren’t gonna really play, then forget it,” he said.  
  
“I do not understand.”  
  
“You’re letting me win. You’re throwing the game,” he said. “You really think I’m that vain that I can’t handle losing a simple game?”  
  
Spock raised an eyebrow. “Do you desire to lose?”  
  
“I want to _play_. Not have victory handed to me. There’s no sport in that,” he said. “This is a game of logic, Spock. You damn well better beat me.”  
  
Spock’s eyes narrowed, just slightly. “Very well.”  
  
He moved a rook aggressively, an offensive play, and Jim tamped down a smirk.  
  
Finally.

* * *

Kirk stared at the board. For a long, long time.  
  
He sighed in disgust and moved his queen. “Checkmate.”  
  
He stood from the table immediately and made to leave.  
  
So much for chess. Never doing that again.  
  
He should give up, really. This was pathetic. Who cared this much about making someone be their friend? If anything, this game had proven that Spock would never see their relationship as a platonic one between equals. He would always see Jim as his superior officer, he would always tread carefully around him, he would always keep their respective ranks in mind in every decision that he made.  
  
The man still treated him like his boss even during a simple game of chess.  
  
“You do not wish to play again?” Spock asked.  
  
“No. No, Spock, not really,” he said, just a bit snappish.  
  
“May I inquire as to why?”  
  
“Because we aren’t really playing, Spock. It’s not a real game. It’s a performance for you. You’re putting on a show of letting me win because you think losing will hurt my fragile human feelings and damage our professional relationship somehow.”  
  
“I assure you I am not.”  
  
“Somehow I find that hard to believe.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“You’ve literally devoted your life to following the path of logic. Your focus is never anything less than perfect. You’ve been playing since you were a kid. Logically, I shouldn’t be able to beat you.”  
  
“Fascinating,” Spock said. “You did not even consider your intellect to be a factor in your chances.”  
  
Jim tossed his hands in the air. “I give up.” He turned around and started heading to the door again.  
  
“Captain.”  
  
He kept walking.  
  
“Jim.”  
  
He stopped.  
  
He barely suppressed a sigh. He was going to regret this. “Yeah?”  
  
“I would like to play again, if it is agreeable to you,” he said. “Please.”  
  
Well, fuck.  
  
“You actually gonna try this time?”  
  
He nodded. “I shall give the endeavor the best of my efforts.”


End file.
